John Barclay

Programming

- John is a master problem-solver and always open to new or different solutions

- John's humor, kindness, honesty and maturity continue to have a positive impact on all who work with him."

- John is a very independent worker and continually re-prioritizes his own list of work and appropriately seeks guidance and confirmation regarding those priorities

- Our environment focuses on tangible results and John excels at following through - making sure things are resolved. Our environment also relies greatly on the ability to work independently and John is able to do so as well as anyone I know.

- Performance Review in which I was given a Commendable/Outstanding overall rating (5 of 5)

Kim Nystrom, College of Education Database Administrator

John has been instrumental in planning and developing the foundational applications we use in the College, such as the Form Processor suite, the Faculty Staff Directory, the Faculty Research Profiles, the College intranet, User Webs, and many other applications. In particular, his leadership, skill, and efforts on the College web site redesign were broad in impact – hitting on a critical College gateway as well as affecting how College faculty and staff maintain and work with the web site. John’s programming skills combined with his vision and ability to think in big picture terms is a tremendous asset.

Amy Young, Materials Computation Center

John is diligent and thorough, and has the unique combination of being well versed in the newest
technologies while adopting them judiciously.

Occasionally, I see John interacting with colleagues in his unit, and from these small glimpses I can tell
how liked and respected he is by people who collaborate with him daily. His mild personality and
friendliness put others at ease, and his quiet, dry sense of humor makes any task more enjoyable.

For these reasons, John Barclay is an outstanding asset to the University community.

Jack Brighton, Chair of UIUC Webmasters Group and WILL Webmaster

As Chairman of the Campus Webmasters Coordinating Group I have worked closely with John over the past three years. He has served as a valuable member of the committee, and has contributed a great deal to its work. He has a very high level of expertise on the technical aspects of web development and administration, and has gladly shared that expertise with the campus web development community in a number of very effective ways.

Chris Harris, College of Education Communications Specialist

Now, while John's technical abilities are impressive, I really believe that his greatest strength is his absolute refusal to simply "put out technical fires." John doesn't just look for the easiest way to fix a problem - the way that will get an angry communications specialist out of his office the fastest. Rather, he looks for a solution that will work best in the long term - for the individual and for the College. This sounds like common sense - really, it sounds like going the doctor. But, in practice, in the real world, this level of customer service is one of the rarest and most valuable qualities we ever encounter. It's not giving the customer what he or she wants - it's giving them what they really need. It takes a lot of commitment and a respectable amount of courage to tell your boss (or his boss, or the dean) "Now, let's hold up a second and think about this." I’ve seen John do it repeatedly. And, you can figure out who's been in that office and had that experience - those are the people who laugh when they hear John's name. Quite a testament to someone who will tell you flat out "That's probably not the way you want to go on that"